


Twenty Years and Counting

by tepesh (TheRoseGalaxies)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry potter Hogwarts mystery
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Friendship, Jacob is... questionable. definitely not good, Sibling Relationship, Video Game: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, not exactly a positive one though, this will likely get jossed by the next two years of hm but for now it's canon compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 12:33:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18073478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRoseGalaxies/pseuds/tepesh
Summary: March 1994. Tepesh Aurum has worked as an Auror for almost three years. She’s not much closer to finding Jacob (again) than she ever has been.Tonks’s arrival at the Department gives her a bit of motivation in the form of humor, friendship, and encouragement, and it’s not long before she’s making genuine progress in the search for her brother.Tepesh will find him. The only variable is what will follow.





	Twenty Years and Counting

**Author's Note:**

> this is entirely the fault of the hphm discord. I blame all of you.
> 
> quick notes: Tepesh was in Ravenclaw. she's a Legilimens and a cat animagus registered with the Ministry.
> 
> eternal gratitude to Rebecca for betaing, any remaining mistakes are my own.

 

Alarm clocks, Tepesh decides, are the invention of Dark Wizards. Or, in this case, of a seventh-year Tulip with the unwitting assistance of Ben.

  
_“No, see, I just need you to bring one from home. I’ve got ten galleons for it! That more than covers the cost, I looked in shops over the summer.”_

  
_Ben poked his pie, not looking up. “If you looked in shops, why didn’t you just buy one then?”_

  
_A sigh. “I didn’t have muggle money, Ben Copper. Besides, I didn’t know I needed one!” Tulip leaned forward, and Tepesh couldn’t help but be amazed she didn’t introduce her elbows to her juice or pasta. “But this, Ben Copper, will be brilliant. All you have to do is supply the basics – the alarm clock itself!”_

_  
_ _“Tulip, what are you going to_ do _with it?”_

 _  
_ _“Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to enchant it, so that you can’t accidentally turn it off, and when you’re awake, it will bounce around the entire dormitory so your roommates have no choice but to wake up, too!”_

  
Thinking of Tulip’s ultimately successful magicked alarm clock reminds her of why she so often slept in Merula’s four-poster in seventh year, which reminds her of Merula, which elicits a groan unrelated to tiredness. Tepesh aims her wand at the bouncing clock. It shudders before shutting off. Another day without roommates.

  
Last night must’ve been quite something for her to be dwelling on this again.

  
Oh! Last night!

  
Rolling gracelessly out of bed, Tepesh grabs the letter delivered by Void Venturer (she was thirteen and it seemed like a suitably awesome name for an owl in 1986) the night before.

  
_Tep!_

 _  
_ _Hope you’re doing well. I hear quite a bit about Auror adventures from Mad-Eye, but it would be nice to hear some from the lips of an old friend. Good news, there – I’m joining up officially! No more Tonks-in-training! Took a bit to pass the Stealth exam (though I passed Disguises with flying colors, as it were), but that makes us officially coworkers!_

  
Next to ‘flying colors’ is a haphazardly drawn winky face with spiked hair.

  
_I’m coming in at ten tomorrow and I can’t wait to see you! Set your alarm!_

 _  
_ _Tonks_

  
That explained the use of Tulip’s clock. Tepesh places the letter on her desk next to a half-colored map, shoving two empty cups of tea aside to make room, and sets a kettle to boil.

 

* * *

 

The Auror’s office is usually a mess, but the floor isn’t usually a sea of rubber ducks. Tepesh is certain she could walk to her desk yesterday.

  
“Oh! Sorry! I should have mentioned not to touch that, it tends to multiply – wotcher, Tepesh!” Tonks jumps onto a desk, her arms full of rubber ducks. She moves to wave, a slight twitch of her arm, before seeming to remember that her arms are indeed holding at least a dozen ducks.

  
“Tonks, seriously, why did you even bring that?! Are you trying to disrupt the order of our office? This is a mess!” Lan shouts across the room. “Aurum, don’t even bother trying to walk over here, it’s just going to make them _squeak_.”

  
Tepesh feels a smile rise past her initial irritation. “Heya, Tonks. Quite an introduction to the Aurors you’ve made,” she says, ignoring Lan and the protesting ducks by wading towards her desk, using her briefcase as a plow.

  
Tonks grins, stepping gingerly to her chair and then the floor, still cradling the toys. “I can’t build a reputation on anything but my true self, that’s my Auror philosophy.” They look at each other for a second, matching smiles –

  
Then the ducks and the briefcase are forgone in favor of an embrace. “Welcome to the Aurors, Tonks,” Tepesh says, holding Tonks like a lifeline.

  
“Thanks, Tep. But, uh…” Tonks’s grip loosens. “Maybe we should do something about the rubber ducks before I get kicked out on my first day, yeah?”

 

  
  
Shacklebolt _evanesco_ s them away after Tonks works the counterjinxes on the original duck. Now it just sits there, innocently, on her new desk, tucked into the corner to avoid another unwitting Auror’s touch from repeating the event.

  
“I didn’t see you much while training under Mad-Eye, but he says that’s not uncommon,” Tonks is saying, moving documents from a box to her drawers. “To work with you, I mean.” Tepesh thumbs through her own papers, leaving marks on the ones that need immediate attention, but she’s standing too far from her desk to really be working.

  
“If you need to work with me, that means you’ve found some pretty big problems,” she replies.

  
“Tonks, quit distracting Aurum! I need her signature on that report.” That’s Lan, his voice louder than it needs to be, and by this point Tepesh thinks he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe he had a Tulip Alarm Clock, too.

  
“Lan, play nice or I’ll tell Robin you’re crushing on her like a fourth-year girl,” Tepesh says, winking at Tonks.

  
Color rises in Lan’s cheeks. “You’re the worst best Legilimens in the Wizarding World, Aurum,” he mutters. Tepesh is already signing the report, however, so he doesn’t have much to complain about.

  
When he’s out of earshot, she sets her papers on Tonks’s desk and sighs. “Rigel’s a good – that’s Lan’s first name, I mean – he’s a good person, actually. I probably work with him the most. A lot of times he just pushes thoughts at me and doesn’t bother talking out loud, but that just means I know he’s a sweetheart. Gets really touchy about organization, though.”

  
Tepesh tries to ignore how Tonks’s eyes sparkle. “Like you?”

  
Her cheeks feel hot and she slightly regrets laughing at Lan earlier.

  
“I’m just saying,” Tonks continues, “there might be a reason you work together.”

  
“Tonks, I am a lesbian –”

  
Tonks waggles her now blue and pink eyebrows.

  
“Tonks –”

  
Her face is now, inexplicably, a cat, and it’s so sudden that Tepesh bursts out laughing.

 

  
When Tepesh hands Lan her own report for him to sign, he scans her face as if estimating the number of her freckles. (He actually did that once, in their fourth month of partnership, and still refuses to tell her his conclusion.) “You look happy, Aurum,” he says, dipping his quill in ink. “It’s a good look.” Gently, he pushes mental warmth in her direction.

Tepesh smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm planning for this fic to go up until Tepesh finds Jacob (for the last time). there are plans for a series... stick with me and we'll see.
> 
> any and all comments are welcome! fic writers live and breathe feedback, I promise!
> 
> find me on tumblr @barrisokas


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